I never would have guessed that art would be my world - my high school art teacher was less than inspired by me - and I didn't feel a connection. Writing and books were my passions,and of course travel. But sure enough, almost by accident I stumbled upon mosaics and the rest is history. I didn't know in those early years that I would achieve the things I have, I only knew that I loved creating them, and that no matter what, that is the work that I wanted to do. Once I knew that this was my path, I set forth determinedly - thinking that I knew the rest of the story. But life would be pretty boring if things wrapped up that easily. And I can certainly say it hasn't been boring.
While fundraising for my second large mural - I thought it would be fun to co ordinate a performance piece featuring an artist friend of mine and a gallery owner. He was playing blues guitar and she the ukulele and they had begun playing together once a week just for fun. I convinced them to do this to raise money for my project (I will skip how I begged and pleaded - no one is really interested in those details anyway, right?). The event was a huge success and after we celebrated reaching our fundraising mission I thought to myself - How fun! I'd like to do something like this again!
And I did. Not exactly the same, but I made events a regular occurrence at my Gallery 26, from artist talks and demos to writers promoting their books as well as showcasing local musicians. I never would have dreamed how much I would love this work, maybe didn't even realize it while I was doing it, but when I stepped away from life as a gallery owner, I felt that loss. It had inspired me creatively and stretched me personally. When I expressed this a lot of people told me not to worry about it - those things were distractions from my art. But I found the opposite to be true; the energy, the excitement, the people, all fed my creativity. I volunteered for Plein Air Easton! and became a part of the excellent group St. Michaels Events. Feeling that energy was exciting and I knew I wanted more.
So it is with much pride, excitement and enthusiasm to announce that I will be taking on the Events Manager position with the Avalon Foundation. I love this group of people and have enjoyed working on various projects with them! I am excited and inspired to begin. I have big shoes to fill; Colleen Brighton is leaving the position to pursue other interests, and I can only hope to continue her work in a way that makes her proud. I'm guessing that every "emergency" phone call from me to her over the course of the last year will come back to me via karma, and I'll probably bug her a few times just for old times sake.
And so, like every time I've entered into a creative, inspiring environment, I've begun a new mosaic. And I love it, like the twisty, crazy road that I've been on in this life. Who even knows what's up around the next bend?
